University is stressful – especially at this time of year with assessed essays and exams looming.

What annoys me to no end is everyone moaning, comparing knowledge for no reason other than to make themselves feel better – leaving others feeling worse, and people sharing an endless supply of dismal posts about not doing work.

I’m a firm believer that anything you put out into the world should add to it, not take away. Whether that’s in the form of a speech, a tweet, a Facebook post, or a comment to someone else – make it count!

So here are some bundles of internet-shaped joy to spread the sunshine and rainbows instead:

Emily Coxhead and The Happy Newspaper

Emily is an inspiring individual who realised that cards in the shops didn’t say exactly what she wanted them to. So she started making her own! Her business grew and grew as she pursued her mission of injecting hope and joy into the world. So now you can get yourself some encouraging/stress-relieving stationery from her shop, encouraging words/quotes/photos on her businesses’ Twitter/Instagram (or check our her personal Insta/Tw for extra little rays of sunshine too!), or buy a copy of The Happy Newspaper (a newspaper full of happy news, funnily enough!). Some copies of the newspaper are now only £1. Even if you just follow Emily’s Instagram/Twitter – it’ll add some light to your life!

Matt Haig’s Twitter and Book

If you hadn’t already guessed from the excessive number of Matt Haig quotes I use both everyday (if you know me) and in my blogs, Matt Haig is one of my all time favourite authors.

His Twitter is sarcastic and brilliant. His witty remarks about life in 2017, gorgeous poems he writes, and useful life tips, especially from quotes he writes, will help you through.

And if you fancy, purchase his best-selling and inexplicably eloquent book ‘Reasons to Stay Alive’. If you want to steer clear of some depressing bits, you can avoid certain chapters and still get so much from the book. But if you want to indulge in a story of hitting rock bottom and finding the beauty in life again – give it a read. One of the best purchases you’ll ever make. I carry it around with me every single day!

Not one of my favourite pages but one of the most famous from Matt’s book.

And Brad’s Youtube channel is absolute magic. He’s the founder of a movement that he calls the #joyfulrebellion. He believes that joy creates joy creates joy! And he’s right. So he spreads that in every creative way he can. The most brilliant of movements, I think.

My favourite videos are smuggling hope (made me cry hysterical happy tears) because he smuggled kids’ drawings of what they thought ‘hope’ looks like into one of the biggest art galleries in the world. AND a pep talk about a pep talk (not as many but still quite a few happy tears) which talks about his journey after having a viral video, meeting the President, and working with Beyonce. The key message being that your life is your masterpiece. Your life does not amount to one moment or one project’s success. The most valuable and incredible parts of your life won’t be seen by 40 million people, but will be found in the one-to-one interactions with the people closest to you. It makes you think of life a bit differently so definitely give it a quick watch.

Brad and his wife Kristi are story tellers and everything they do works towards helping kids and adults make the world more awesome. Follow their stuff on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or their website (and it’s a very fun website at that!)

The Artidote

These kinds of pages are a little bit deeper. They make you think about life in a profoundly different way. They let you know that a lot of thoughts or experiences you may have, you’re not alone in.

They are on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And each quote/story comes with a really thought-provoking piece of artwork. It’s the best of both!

Today’s quote…

“When it feels scary to jump, that is exactly when you jump, otherwise you end up staying in the same place your whole life, and that I can’t do.” —J. C. Chandor, A Most Violent Year #TodaysMantra

Sometimes these kind of things make you do your life differently, brighten your day, or just open you up to a totally different perspective.

Branden Harvey’s Good News!

This guy is full of sunbeams and good news and if you subscribe he will email you a newsletter of good news from around the world every week! And he even has a podcast of good news called ‘Sounds Good with Branden Harvey’. If you haven’t got into podcasts, they’re so awesome. Just a little more engaging than music or television, but not too heavy either. And there are different topics for everyone. You just download a podcast app and get listening. And there’s even a podcast with Branden Harvey talking to Brad Montague! What could be better?!

In this world we take the Peep Show line of things so often and find deprecation and negativity funny. I honestly feel like too much of it is unhealthy. Add some sparkle into your life with some of this – and there’s something for everyone! Whether you like quotes or art or videos or podcasts or books or tweets or anything – make your internet experience that bit more positive. It makes a difference, I promise.

Positivity is all around us, so however you decide to achieve it, I hope you make your world that little bit more full of sunshine and rainbows and everything wonderful!

About Scarlett

Hey! I'm Scarlett! I am a third year LLB Law student and this year I am also the Chairperson of the University of Leicester Law Society. I'll be blogging about what life is like as a law student, about the course and the social side of uni life. Not to mention all of the extracurricular activities the Law Society offers that you can get involved in.